Awning Failure

Last Thursday morning while on holidays at Venus Bay on the Eyre Peninsula rain finally fell during the night - lovely gentle rain. Around 6am there was a loud crash and the van shook. On investigation I found the awning had collapsed. The aluminium tube that the awning rolls out on had failed in the middle partially tearing the whole awning assembly off the wall of the van.
The awning had been setup with around 10-15 degree downward slope but water must pooled somewhere on top to cause the failure. My concern is that I cannot see how more than 5-10 litres of water could have pooled, so we are talking about around 10kg being enough to cause a major failure. If this is the case the aluminium tube is simply not strong enough.
The Jayco representative said that anytime there are windy or wet conditions the awning should be retracted as stated in the operator's manual so it is not covered by warranty - end of story. One would have to ask "What is the point of having an awning if you have have to pack everything away as soon as it even looks like being windy or wet?"
Needless to say I will not be replacing it with another Carefree (now theres an oxymoron) awning. Aussie Traveller make an awning (the Coolibah) that can be left up in all but the most severe conditions so that is what we will be putting back on the van even if the insurance doesn't cover all the cost.
Chris W